The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-11-01
THE LAFAYETTE STATUE.


World, in q letter from Washington,
writes: An act OF congress, approved
March 3, 1885, appropriated the sum
" $50, 600 for q statue OF Gen. Latay-
ute, to be placed on one Of the public
reservation in the city of Washington.
The selection of the site and the design
or the statue were left to the Il scre-
ion of commission appointed for that
purpose, consisting OF the secretary OF
var (chairman), the chairman of the
enate library committee, and Edward
lark. the architect of the capital.
senator Sherman was cha rman OF the
library comm ttee when the act was
'assed. He subsequently became chair
nan OF the senate foreign affairs cGm-
niltce, and Senator Sewell, of New
Jersey, succeeded him as chairman of
he library committee Gen. Scwelrs
erm expired on the 4th of March last,
md Senator Hoar of Massachusetts,
ook his place on the Lafayette com
Mss ON. The comm ssion. compr ising
Lr. Ed coti, secretary of war; Senator
ioar and Edward Clark. on the 18th
# May last awarded the contract for
he statue TO Messrs Mercle and Fal-
.uire. of Paris, the model which was
heir joint production ben in the
Judgment of the commission the best
If those submitted. As will be remem-
jered, the distinguished sculptor, NJ
'artholdi, at the request of tn" com.
mission, submitted models for this sta
tie. 1t was generally understood when
he appropriation was under discussion
congress that the work would be
.ven to NJ. Barlhodi. His friends
made an effort to have his name in
erted in the act designating him as the
culp;or of the statue, but without sue
'ess The charge has been made by the
riends of NJ. Barlholdi that he did not
ecciyo far treatment at the bands OF
lie commission, that there was no open
iolupetion, and that the contract was
.iv-1 to Merce and Falguire through
pity intrigue.
I correspon lent has investigated
he matter carefully. While the COM
MS. ~ may have erred in their judg-
neoi ii the respective merits OF the
models submitted, il does not appear
hat they we're guilty of favoriiism.
Nj Clark is the only member of the
commission at present in Washington.
The commission met for the first
inc a, the war department ON the 2lst
If March, 1885," said Mr.. Clark. I'VE
discussed the best course to pursue TO
accomplish our object We were all OF
he opinion that the competition for the
latue should be limited. Mr.. Sherman
hought # we advertised for designs
hat it might embarrass the commission
II making the selection. The better
'lu>s of artists will not enter into gen
raj competition for work. They can
lol AFFORD the time, and besides, il is
alhcr beneath their dignity. Ii we had
advertised for general proposals the
avor les of some congressman would
nave entered the field and pressure
would have been brought to bear on
he commission by the congressman to
,ccept the design of their respective
constituents. Washington has been in
licted with about as many statues of
hat X ind rs she can stand. We decided,
therefore,, 10 limit the number of COM
)clitors to i've arl sts Of national repu-
alions. We selected the names of
hree American artists; Augustus st.
iaudens of New York, ID. G. French of
Session, and Larkin G. Mead, who lives
n Florence. but is native of this coun-
nv. In view of the fact that the
iatue was TO commemorate the services
VI Frenchman, Il was thought but
proper to send the other two invitations
French sculptors. We decided to
invite Bartholdi to submit model, and
hen request the French government to
elect some one We accordingly
wrote to the artists | have named in
'iiing them TO furnish models for the
iaiue, and through tho secretary of
tate letter was sent TO the French
minister OF foreign affairs asking him
name some sculptor to compete for
he statue. These invitations were
ZEN, out about the first of April 1885.
Ihe sculplors we're informed that the
tatue was not to cost TO exceed $40, 600.
We reserved s., 900 of the original APP
jropriaiion to pay for the models and